Hoenheim's Other Child
by bRokenangeL666
Summary: What if Hoenheim had another child, and what if the only person to know was Roy? When Ed and Al meet her, what will happen?
1. Prologue

1Prologue

"_No matter what hell we may go through in life, at least we'll have the memories of the ones who truly love us."_

_The wind was blowing across the docks where a boat was getting ready to sail off. Off on the pier stood a young girl no older than five holding the hand of a well-built man who appeared to be about twenty years old . The wind blew through the long auburn hair_ _of the young girl and the short, messy black hair of the man. As the ship started to sail off a man with long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail appeared on the back of the ship. The girl waved to this figure while crying silently._

"_Daddy! Promise me you'll come back and get me someday!" The girl shouted._

"_I will Zezilia! Make sure your Uncle Roy takes good care of you!" The man on the boat called back to his daughter as the ship sailed off farther away from the land._

_The man called Roy and the girl called Zezilia both waved to the shrinking figure of the ship. Roy turned to the girl and bent down to pick her up._

"_Come on Zezilia. Let's go home now ok? It's almost dinner time and you asked for soup right?" Roy said as he walked away with the tiny Zezilia in his arms._

"_Uh huh. Uncle Roy? After dinner will you read to me?" Zezilia asked looking up at her uncle sleepily._

"_Sure Zezilia. Whatever you want." He said back to his now sleeping niece._

_Roy sighed as he continued his walk back home while carrying the light form of Zezilia in his arms. When he reached the end of the docks he turned to the sea once again._

"_Hoenheim, I hope you know what you're doing. You better keep your promise. She is your only daughter after all."_ _Roy said as he turned back around and went to his house._


	2. New Mission

1Chapter One

"_It's not a fashion statement, it's a deathwish."_

Colonel Roy Mustang sat at his desk waiting for Edward Elric to make his normal entrance so he could give his mission report. Mustang was a tall man, about thirty-one years in age, messy black hair sat atop his head occasionally falling into his obsidian eyes. He was dressed in the normal blue military attire and covering his hands were his alchemical gloves, from which he gets his name as the Flame Alchemist. Lounging around his office were his subordinates, Hawkeye, Havoc, Breda, Fuery, and Falman.

Normally, the office was silent, unless Hawkeye attempted to shoot Mustang for not doing his paperwork. But on certain days, Edward would have to give his superior officer Mustang a mission report. It was on these days that the silence of the office was disturbed and all hell broke loose.

It was at that exact moment that Edward decided to make his appearance. Edward slammed open the door to Mustang's office, causing all the eyes to stare blankly at the cause of the disturbance. In a few quick strides He crossed the room over to Mustang's personal office and went up to his desk. Mustang, sitting at his desk, continued to do his paperwork like nothing was happening. This caused Edward to stand there, getting extremely irritated at his superior officer for ignoring him. Finally, Mustang raised his head and looked around the room. His gaze stopped at Edward's irate form.

"Hawkeye, has Fullmetal arrived yet? I thought I heard him come in but I cant seem to see him. That boy really needs to grow a few inches!" Roy said as he stared at Edward trying to get the reaction he wanted out of the boy.

It was at that moment that Edward Elric exploded in his normal fit of rage.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE HIM OVER THE PAPERWORK ON YOUR DESK BECAUSE HE IS LESS THAN AN INCH HIGH!" He screamed at Mustang stomping around the room waving his arms and scattering the papers that were previously in them.

"I never said that Fullmetal. You did." Roy answered, his reply accompanied by his usual smirk.

Edward turned around and stared at Roy waiting for him to say something else. Edward, although only fifteen years old, was already in the military as a State Alchemist. His full name was Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, due to the fact that his right arm and left leg were made of automail. His mid-back length blonde hair was always pulled back into a braid, probably to keep it out of the way. Edward's eyes were a unusual color of gold, which added to the intensity of his outfit. He was easily spotted because he wore the same thing, which consisted of a black shirt tucked into black pants with a belt. His black boots, white gloves, and red coat completed his outfit.

"Well Fullmetal, aren't you going to give me your mission report now? I don't have all day." Roy said still smirking at Edward's previous outburst.

Edward suppressed his rage and sat down on the couch in front of Mustang's desk. From there he gave his mission report about how the rumor was false and he was just sent on a wild goose chase. He left out some details, knowing Mustang already knew what had happened. When he was finished, Mustang stood up and walked over to his window.

"Very good Fullmetal. I hope you don't mind, but I have another mission for you. And Alphonse can help you with this one too." Roy said as he looked out into the courtyard.

"What is it? Another lead? Or just another rumor?" Edward asked as he looked skeptically at Mustang, wondering what the mission would be.

"You are to escort a civilian girl, about your age, to my office. However, she has problems traveling by trains and boats, so you'll have to go to where she resides and escort her to me by foot." Roy said as he turned around to take in Edward's reaction.

"Why are you sending US on this? Why can't you send Havoc or Fuery? Me and Al have to do more research the stone and find a new lead!" Edward said in irritation.

"Because Fullmetal. This girl is very special to a dear friend of mine. And he asked me to watch over his daughter." Mustang said as he stared at Edward with a look that promised bad things if he did not comply.

"Fine," Edward sighed, "where should we pick her up?"

"She's in Aquroya. I'm assuming you know where that is correct?" Roy asked with a smug look on his face.

"Yeah, I know where Aquroya is." Edward said. "What's this girl's name anyway?"

"Her name is Zezilia. Ask one of the townsfolk where you can find her and they should tell you. If anyone gets suspicious, tell them that I sent you." Roy said as he dismissed Edward from his office.

Edward sighed as he walked out of the office. Roy turned back around to look out the window. Soon he could see Edward's form exiting the building and leaving the courtyard heading over to the room he and Al shared.

"Zezilia. It'll be nice to finally see you again." Roy said as he turned back to his desk and sat down, attempting to sleep.

After that, things continued like a normal day, with Hawkeye shooting at Mustang to get his paperwork done. And Havoc, Fuery, and Breda played poker at one of the tables while Falman filed paperwork, not wanting to invoke the wrath of "Trigger-Happy" Hawkeye.


	3. Arrival

1Chapter Two

"_Old loves, they die hard. Old lies, they die harder."_

A girl stood at the edge of the cliff overlooking the sea. Her long auburn hair traveled down to brush the top of her butt. She appeared to be about fifteen years old. She was dressed in a long light brown skirt that reached down to her ankles which were concealed by knee length black boots and a white shirt that hugged her slim frame. Her golden eyes staring out over the ocean taking in the scene before her.

Edward and Alphonse walked into Aquroya minutes before the sun began to set.

"Hey Ed, I think we should rent a room before it gets too dark. I don't think that girl would be out here at this time. We can look for her tomorrow ok?" Al said as he and Ed slowed to a stop.

"Sure Al. I guess that would work. Come on, I remember where the hotel is from last time we were here." Ed said as he started walking towards the hotel.

After several minutes of walking around the town the sky started to get dark. Ed and Al continued to walk making turns left and right heading towards where they thought the hotel to be.

"Brother," Al said as he turned to Ed, "we're lost, aren't we?"

Ed stopped abruptly and turned to look up at Al. Although Alphonse was a full year younger than Ed, he was much taller. The reason for this was because Alphonse was not a person, but a soul attached to a giant suit of armor. This was the end result of a experiment gone wrong when Ed and Al were young.

"Of course not Al. We're not lost. They must have just moved the hotel." Ed said trying to cover up his mistake of getting him and Alphonse lost.

"Ed look, here comes someone. Maybe we can ask them for direction to the hotel!" Al said as he pointed at the form walking down the street.

Ed turned to look to where Al was pointing. Sure enough there was a person walking down the street towards them. As the person got closer Ed and Al were able to make out their composure. The person was a girl no older than Ed and appeared to be wearing a skirt, boots, and a shirt that hugged tightly to her frame. They could see her long hair swishing behind her as she walked. When she got closer Ed went up to her and asked for directions.

"Um excuse me miss. Could you direct us to the hotel? We got lost looking for it." Ed asked sheepishly, not fully willing to admit his mistake.

"Of course. Just follow me. I was on my way there myself." The girl said walking off in a different direction not waiting for Ed and Al.

The walk to the hotel was silent, the only sound being the clanking of Al's metallic body as he walked. Finally, after taking several turns, they reached the hotel. The girl entered the hotel without a speaking another word to Ed and Al. She made her way up to the counter where the clerk was standing waiting for his shift to be over.

"These two gentlemen would like a room for the night." She said as she gestured to Ed and Al standing behind her.

"Ok. Are they friends of yours?" The clerk asked as he punched in a number and handed Ed a key to their room.

"Nope, I just found them on the road and they asked me where the hotel was. So, I showed them." The girl said as she walked off into the hallway leading to the rooms.

"Ok. You two," the clerk said as he turned to Ed and Al, "follow me. I'll lead you to your room."

Ed and Al followed the clerk to their room. When they entered they took in the rooms appearance. It had two single beds with a window over each bed and a night stand in the middle of the beds. The room's walls were covered in flowered wallpaper and was adorned by four pictures, one on each wall. Off to the right side of the room was a door that sat ajar letting the two see the bathroom inside. All in all it was a nice room.

Ed walked across the room and sat on the bed he claimed as his.

"So Al, where do you think we'll find this girl?" Ed said as he laid down and got ready to sleep.

"I don't know Brother. We can ask one of the townspeople like Colonel Mustang said to tomorrow. For now just get some sleep ok? You know you need to rest." Al said as he scolded his older brother for not taking better care of himself.

"Ok Al. Tomorrow we find the girl and go back to Mustang. The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can go back to looking for new leads on the stone." Ed said as he reached over to the lamp on the night stand and turned it off.

The girl walked into her room in the hotel and sat down on her bed. She turned to the night stand and opened the drawer. She pulled out a picture of two men, one with short, messy black hair, the other with long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. Between the two men was a little girl. They were having a picnic at the cliff the girl was standing at earlier.

"Father, you promised me you'd come back one day. So why haven't you come back to me?" The girl said as she set the picture down and turned off the light, falling asleep.


	4. Official Meeting

1Chapter Three

Ed awoke the next morning to find himself alone in the room. He looked around and finally decided to get up and look for Al. He walked out to the lobby of the hotel only to find Al talking with the girl they met yesterday.

Al turned to Ed and stood up and shouted abruptly.

"Brother! I found her! It's Zezilia! Remember her? She's the one who led us to the hotel yesterday! Isn't that strange?" Alphonse yelled, and if armor could show emotions, Al's metal face would be split into a wide grin.

"So, you're the one who Mustang told us to escort. Well, nice to meet you. Get your things packed and ready. We're leaving as soon as we can." Ed said as he turned back to his room to pack.

"Um, excuse me," the girl, recently revealed as Zezilia said, "but I don't even know who you two are yet and you want me to go with you? I'm sorry, but that's kinda rude."

"Oh, sorry," Al said, "I'm Alphonse and this is my older brother Edward."

"But you can call us Al and Ed." Edward finished.

"Ok then, since we're doing introductions here, I'm Zezilia Keary, but you can call me Zili. Nice to meet you." Zezilia said sticking out her hand for Ed to shake.

"Now can we _please _leave? I really want to get back to Central." Ed said as he went to pack.

Edward walked out of the hotel to find Al and Zezilia already packed and waiting for him. Now that it was day time, he was able to get a better look at Zezilia. She was still wearing the skirt, shirt, and boots he saw her in yesterday. That was about all Ed had noticed yesterday. Today, he was able to concentrate on her physical appearance. Her skin was a creamy white color, not too white, but not too dark. Her long hair that was pulled back into a ponytail flowed with her every movement. Her eyes, he noticed, were the same unusual golden color as his.

Ed knew that in all of Amestris, there were only a handful of people with golden eyes that intense. Hughes was one, though his were dulled with age. Then himself and Alphonse. And although he didn't want to admit it, his 'no-good father' had the eyes too. Edward's thoughts were interrupted with a "ahem" coming from Zezilia, who noticed Ed's staring.

"If you're done staring, I'd like to go now. It will be nice to finally get away from Aquroya." Zezilia said quickly turning on her heel and walking away.

Edward sighed as he picked up his bag and ran to catch up with Al and Zezilia who were already half-way out of the town.

They were half-way back when they started having problems. First came the bandits' attempt to steal all their money. Then the local townspeople of a small city mistaking them for said bandits. Finally, while they were waiting in the jail for something they didn't do, the call came.

A guard came into their cell staring at Edward. Motioning for him to follow, the guard went over to the phone in the front desk. He picked up the phone sitting on the counter and handed it to Ed. Ed placed the phone next to his ear.

"Hello?" Ed asked to the mysterious person on the other line of the phone.

"_Fullmetal. I send you on a simple escort mission and what do you do? You go and get yourself and the person your escorting in jail! How am I supposed to explain these situations to my superiors when they happen this frequently in such SHORT amounts of time!_" An enraged Colonel Roy Mustang shouted over the phone at Edward.

"It's not _my _fault if the townspeople mistake us for _bandits_! How the hell was I supposed to know the town was practically _infested _with them," then Edward noticed what Roy said in his last sentence, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT THEY CAN RIDE ON AN ANT BECAUSE THEY ARE SMALLER THAN ONE!"

"_I never said that Fullmetal, you did. In any case, I have to come down there now. The people are so suspicious that they wont let you out unless they SEE that you are a part of the military. And I can't send one of my subordinates out because you surpass them in rank._" Roy explained while ignoring the screaming rant that just came from Ed's mouth.

"Fine. Hurry up and get your lazy ass over here. I don't want to be stuck in this jail for long. It's not clean. And the food stinks." Ed complained while hanging up the phone, ending further conversation.

The same guard that led Ed out to the phone led him back to the cell, pushing him in when they got there. Ed looked at the other two occupants, finding that Zezilia was asleep laying cradled in Alphonse's lap. Ed went over and sat down next to Al.

"Hey Al?" Edward asked as he looked over at Zezilia's sleeping form.

"Yes Brother? What is it?" Al replied.

"I wonder what Mustang really wants with Zezilia. I know he's telling the truth about her being a friend's daughter. I just don't know why he want's to take care of her now. Seems kinda strange to me." Ed said as he laid down and rolled over onto his side to try and sleep in the cell.

"I don't know Ed. Just, get some sleep ok?" Alphonse said.

Edward's only response was a light snore and a grunt.


	5. Help

1Chapter Four

"_In the land of twilight, under the moon, we dance for the idiots."_

When Ed awoke the next morning he found himself alone in the cell. Hearing voices outside the door, Ed moved to the front to try and overhear the conversation. Pushing his ear up against the door, he could distinguish three voices. One was Colonel Mustang's arrogant voice. The second, more fragile voice, belonged to Zezilia. The third voice was unfamiliar, but gave him the feeling that he'd heard it before, so Ed guessed it was one of the jail's guards.

Ed was able to pick up some of the conversation going on outside.

"...I'm sorry. I have to go now. Back to my work. I'll try and visit, although I don't think some people will appreciate my presence." The unfamiliar voice said.

"But, this is the first time I've seen you since you went away. Can't you stay? Just for a little bit?" Zezilia's voice asked. Ed could tell by the way she was speaking that Zezilia was close to tears.

"I'm sorry, I told you already. It would be too dangerous for me to stay with you. I promise I'll come back this time though." Frank (Ed had decided that the man's name was Frank) said.

"Come now Zezilia, we have to sign the papers to get dear Edward out of jail. God only knows why he's really in there." Roy's voice picked up with a hint of the smirk he normally wore while talking about Edward.

Footsteps were heard leaving the spot of the conversation. He figured that Frank had left, since he could still hear Zezilia and Roy softly talking on the other side of the door.

Ed chose this time to speak up. "Why Colonel, I thought it was too much trouble for your lazy ass to come all the way out here."

"Well, look who's up. Morning sleeping beauty." Roy's voice said from the other side of the door.

"Hello to you too," Ed replied sarcastically, "now, how about getting me out of here? It's starting to smell. And I'm getting hungry." His stomach made its hunger known as it growled loudly.

"Ok Fullmetal. Just stay there and you'll be out soon enough." Roy replied and walked away.

'_It's not like I can go anywhere Bastard Colonel.' _ Ed thought slouching down to the floor waiting his release.

It took several moments of compromising, but Ed was finally let out of the jail, with a warning to never steal anything again. At this Ed argued violently that he 'Didn't steal a damn thing since there wasn't a damn thing in this dried up hole worth stealing.' With that statement he was literally kicked out of the prison, with Roy and Zezilia following behind snickering.

Later that day, Edward noticed Al's profound absence.

"Hey, where's Al? He was with us in that cell too." Ed said turning on Roy demanding a reasonable answer to his question.

"He and Zezilia were let out since they were deemed as 'not a threat as the general society of the town.'" Roy explained as he watched the angry reaction on Edward's face.

"Ok then," Ed replied, reigning in his anger, "where is he?"

"He's waiting at the local restaurant. I sent him out to grab us some food as soon as I got here." Roy stated pointing in the direction of the restaurant.

Off in the distance, Ed could see the unmistakable shape of buildings, and in front of them, the even more unmistakable figure that was Al, waving to them and running to greet them. Once they were all together again, Roy turned to Ed and spoke.

"Ed, we need to head back to Central. Unfortunately, I can't leave you. The Furhur has ordered me to make sure you don't get into anymore trouble. It would make the military look bad." Roy said.

Edward grumbled and turned around, looking towards the direction they were going to travel. All he could see was desert, once again having to walk through the sands. Wondering briefly why they couldn't just take a train, he remembered Roy's comment about Zezilia. _ "She has problems traveling by trains and boat_s,_ so you'll have to escort her to me by foot." _So caught up in his thoughts, Ed didn't notice when the three other people in their 'happy little group' had left and already started walking out of town.

"Hey Edward!" Zezilia called out, the laughter obvious in her voice, "Hurry up or we'll leave you here!"

Edward ran forward at this remark, trying to catch up with the rest of the group. On the outside, Ed appeared irritated by the fact that he had spaced out and had to be called to like a child. But on the inside, Edward was happy to finally see a smile on Zezilia's face. Although he recently met Zezilia, he could tell she wasn't happy often. He made it his goal to try and get Zezilia to smile more.

Author's Note: I wanna thank the ONE single review from Leo-kun89. I also want to say that Edward and Zezilia will NOT get together in this fic. I have someone else planned for Zezilia already and Ed has Winry. (Although I think he might be scared of winry, with all that wrench throwing and screaming. She's one scary girl!)


	6. Destination

1A/N slash Disclaimer: I can't believe I forgot this. Wow... I really am stupid. Anyways, I forgot the disclaimer. Oh how sad. But, assuming that the people reading this (if there are any) have brains, they'd figure out that I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of its characters. (Although I'd love to own Ed and Roy.) However I do own this story, Zezilia, and any other stuff I stick in here. Oh, I don't own the quotes either. (Ya know, the quotes in the beginning of each chapter.)

Chapter Five

"_It's not that I want to kill her. It's just, I want her, not to be alive, anymore."_

Their trek through the desert was not as quick as they first thought it would be. The temperature was already hot enough to make them all shed their shirts, and it was steadily climbing, making it hotter. They had to stop on several occasions to find where Alphonse had sunk into the sands. Finally it got to the point where everyone didn't care where they were, they just wanted to get out of the sun.

"Fullmetal, how much longer until we get to the next town." Roy whined, dragging his feet a few paces behind Edward's slouching form.

Edward chose to ignore this statement made by his whining commanding officer and continued walking forward. After a few feet Roy whined again.

"Oh, come on Alphonse. I know it's cooler in there. Can't I come in? Just for a little bit?" Roy said, almost drunkenly, as he stumbled over towards the direction Alphonse was walking.

Alphonse, seeing the Colonel coming his way, sped up his pace to put some distance between him and the delusional Colonel. After that, everyone received some silence until Roy decided to voice his opinion again.

"Hey, Zili, can't you like, build me a umbrella fan? Huh? I know you can. Come on. You wouldn't want your Uncle Roy to die of heatstroke now do you?" Roy once again complained trying to get some sympathy out of the girl.

Under the circumstances, Ed chose to ignore the title Roy gave himself when talking to Zezilia, passing it off as a moment of insanity. They continued like that, with Roy complaining randomly about the heat, until they reached a large rock formation. By a mutual consensus of the group, it was decided that they would stay there during midday, seeing as how it get's unbearably hot when the sun is directly above.

Ed, putting his skills to work, clapped and made a small house out of the large rock formation. Zezilia had never seen Ed use his alchemy before, so she was quite surprised when he made a house out of rocks in a flash of light. Her eyes got big and she let out a little gasp of astonishment at the structure. Ed, hearing her gasp, turned around to face Zezilia.

"It's nothing big. Just a house. Very simple actually. I just do it a bit, differently than other alchemists." Edward said, suddenly shy about his work.

It took Zezilia a moment to respond to Ed's statement. "Are all three of you alchemists? Can you all do that?" She said in amazement turning to Roy and Al.

"Yeah, we are. But we use different forms of alchemy." Roy said. "For example, Fullmetal over there just needs to clap and he can perform alchemy. Fullmetal's alchemy though, mostly involves in changing the form of an object and bending it to his will."

Edward decided to pick up on Roy's explanation. "And the Colonel only needs to snap to use his alchemy. He wears gloves that allow him to change the gasses in the air to produce flames. He can vary the degree of burning the flame can do too."

"Alphonse however needs to use chalk to perform alchemy. Like his brother, Alphonse can change the objects form." Roy ended.

Zezilia, at this point, was in awe at the explanation of Roy and Ed. Having never seen alchemy that often in Aquroya, Zezilia found it quite interesting that the three people she was traveling with were alchemists. Soon getting over her astonishment, Zezilia walked into the make-shift stone house and looked around at Ed's handy-work. She was followed in by Alphonse, Roy, and then Edward, who had added something to the house outside.

All four of the weary, sweat bathed, travelers came to a unanimous decision once inside the house. They would stay there for a quick lunch, then deconstruct the house so they wouldn't leave any signs that something had happened to the large landmass. Conversation was at a minimal considering that talking let out hot air, and there was enough of that already. When it came time to leave Al had somehow managed to form a glass canopy out of the sand to absorb the heat from the sun.

They continued their trek through the desert until they reached the outskirts of Central. After days of traveling, they decided that they would stay in a hotel, rather than go through the trouble of traveling to their homes. Edward and Alphonse shared one room together. Roy had offered to share a room with Zezilia, but at that remark Ed had called Roy a "perverted old bastard who just wants to get laid." So in the end, Roy and Zezilia both had their own private rooms.

While Al, Ed, and Zezilia slept peacefully in their rooms, Roy stayed up and planned for the next morning. He planned to give Edward a temporary house for him and Al to stay in, since he was going to have Zezilia stay with them. His only worry was that Ed and Zezilia would get along. That would happen just fine, as long as Zezilia didn't mention much about her past. If that happened, well, lets just say Roy didn't _want _to think about what would happen.

Shortly after 12:30 in the morning, Roy completed the plans and fell into a peaceful slumber that was only interrupted by the banging occurring in other parts of the hotel.

A/N: Sadly, the only reviewer I have for this little fic is Leo-kun89. Love you much for the reviews! (only two now but oh well.) For your enjoyment (and my own) im still going to continue this thing. (Even if there aren't many people reading/reviewing)


	7. Nightmare

Chapter Six

"_I'm gonna smile and not get worried. I try, but it shows."_

_The sky was bright with the morning light that shone over the hillside as Zezilia sat in peace. The wind blew her hair lightly around her face. She lay back on the soft grass and let the sun's light wash over her body, giving her a feeling of warmth. Suddenly, Zezilia felt a chill down her spine, as if something bad was about to happen. She opened her eyes from their previously closed position and looked up at the sky. The sky had changed color from a brilliant blue to a dark, foreboding purple. The black clouds gathering on the horizon did not bode well either._

_The wind started to pick up, whipping Zezilia's hair around her face as she stood up. The dark clouds were now directly over head and it was starting to rain. Zezilia felt a drop of rain on her hand and looked at it. Instead of being the normal, clear rain, it was a red liquid. The red rain started to come down harder, pelting Zezilia with millions of tiny red drops and staining her body._

_The pour of the rain was so hard now that it was almost impossible to hear anything. However, over the pounding of the rain, Zezilia could hear the faint sound of a cackle. Looking around, Zezilia tried to make out where the sound was coming from, but her visibility was stunted from the pouring red rain. Her eyes finally landed on a tall, lithe shape with a mass of wild hair._

_While she was distracted with trying to make out the mysterious figure, she didn't notice the other figure approaching her from behind. Then, all of a sudden, Zezilia cried out in pain as she felt a hard blow to her side, knocking her over onto the ground. Her vision was spinning as she felt a foot stepping onto her back, preventing her from getting up. The figure from before came forward, slowly, almost happy to see her on the ground._

_The figure kneeled down in front of her so she could see it's features. It's hair was a mix between black and green. It's eyes were an unusual shade of violet with slitted pupils like a cat. It's body was thin and lithe, capable of many acrobatic feats. It was clothed in tight material over it's chest, reaching down just above it's stomach. A skirt like article covered it's lover half up to mid thigh where it's bear skin was exposed. The same tight material covered it's hands and feet. Upon it's forehead was a headband with a strange, inverted triangle on it._

_The figure laughed, and stood up, taking out a picture, seemingly out of nowhere. The picture was of a woman with medium length light brown hair. She was dressed in a simple light green maternity dress, showing how far she was in her pregnancy. Her hands rested lightly on her bulging stomach. There was a man standing behind the woman, his arms around her in a light embrace. His blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and his glasses sat upon his nose._

_Realization set in as Zezilia finally recognized the man in the photo. She squirmed, trying to get to the picture of her father. The person before her jumped around waving the picture back and forth, the foot on top of her body preventing her from reaching the picture. The rain kept coming down, forming a large puddle of mud around Zezilia and the person. She started having trouble breathing and keeping her head out of the rising water. All the while she was still trying to get at the picture of her father._

_Zezilia, finally exhausted, gave up and let her head fall down into the water. Moments later she felt another foot press her head down into the ground, preventing her from raising her head to breathe. She struggled as her vision started to fade. Finally, she blacked out from the lack of breath._

Zezilia awoke with a short scream in the morning. Cold sweat was dripping down her body and she felt tears on her face. She was still sitting in bed gasping for air when somebody knocked on her door.

"Zezilia, it's time to get up. We have a long day ahead of us." Roy's voice said from outside her door.

"O-ok. I'll b-be right there," Zezilia shuddered, still trying to shake her fear from her nightmare.

Roy's footsteps traveled away from the door as Zezilia got dressed into new clothing. She pulled on a pair of dark blue jeans that were frayed at the bottom. Then, the threw on a black cami that hugged her frame. She then put on her black boots and clasped a necklace on her neck. She braided small parts of her hair, then pulled it back into a ponytail.

After she got dressed, she gathered her bag and left the room heading down to the lobby of the hotel. When she arrived in the lobby, she saw Ed, Al, and Roy. Roy was still dressed in his military uniform, which was expected. However, Ed was still in the clothing he wore when she originally met him. Wondering if he had any other clothes she decided to ask.

"Hey, um Ed?" Zezilia asked, "Don't you have anything else to wear? Because if that's the only outfit you have, then I'm taking you shopping."

"Um... ah... no..." Ed stammered at her statement.

Roy laughed briefly and Ed shot him a glare. Edward didn't enjoy shopping in general, unless it was for books or food. What made it worse was that they were in Central, and Central was home to the biggest shopping plaza in all of Amestris. The millions of tourists that constantly visited Central always shoved him over, and he always got lost in the crowds. This made it extremely hard for people to find Ed, seeing as how he was not the ... tallest person.

"Sorry Zezilia, but Fullmetal's shopping trip will have to wait." Roy saved Edward from the horrible fate of shopping, having once been dragged around by Hawkeye in the Central shopping plaza. "He need's to report to me. You must accompany us as well, seeing as how you're the reason I sent Fullmetal out to Aquroya."

Zezilia, although disappointed that she would not be able to take Ed shopping, agreed to follow. Roy paid and left the hotel with Ed, Al and Zezilia, heading back to his office in Central's military building.


	8. Office

A/N:  sorry this took so dang long.. i got caught up with my schoolwork... next chapter should be up sooner! thanks to Anicka and Leo-kun89 for replying to my completely un-worthy story!

Disclaimer: i DO NOT own any of the fma characters.. the only one i DO own is Zezilia, and my mini-library... and the cat outside your window ;)

"_What's the point in all this screaming, no ones listening anyways_."

The four walked through the shopping area of the city of Central, bumping into random people and losing sight of Edward more than once. After finally making it through the shops, they stopped in front of a large, white-grey building, with the military's flag draped over the front. To the right were the barracks, and two the left was the library. Roy gave Zezilia a moment to absorb the new area, then headed forward to the main office building.

Once inside they were greeted by the secretary, and various other military personnel. Roy led them to his office and stepped inside. The four were greeted by a man with blonde-brown hair, smoking a cigaret, wearing a military uniform.

"They there Chief. Thanks for bringing the Colonel back to us. Hawkeye was about ready to make us do his paperwork." The man said. Roy walked further into the office to give Ed, Al, and Zezilia room to enter. When everyone was in the man who greeted them noticed the presence of Zezilia.

"Oh, hello there. Sorry, I didn't see you there behind everyone. I'm Second Lieutennant Jean Havoc." Lieutennant Havoc turned to the other occupants of the room and pointed to each of them, introducing them to Zezilia.

"That lovely lady over there is First Lieutennant Hawkeye." He pointed to a woman with blonde hair and amber eyes. She appeared to be very dedicated to her duties, but still retained her motherly figure.

"That angry looking man in the back is Second Lieutennant Heymans Breda." He pointed to a man in the back of the room near the windows sitting down at the table. He was medium height, portly but not too big, and had short, red hair cut close to his head.

"That tall man over there is Warrant Officer Vato Falman." He gestured to a tall man near the filing cabinets. He was tall and lean, a bit bony, and had a shock of short grey hair, but did not appear to be old.

"This young man here is Sergeant Major Kain Fuery." He pointed to the last man in the office. He was small, with a innocent disposition. His hair was short and black, and did not fall over his glasses that sat on his nose.

Roy decided that, that was the moment to introduce Zezilia to his subordinates. "Everyone, this is Zezilia Keary, the girl who Fullmetal and Alphonse went to go escort."

Everyone in the room gave a short salute to Zezilia as a greeting. After, Roy walked into his personal office and motioned for Edward to follow him, leaving Al and Zezilia outside with Roy's subordinates. Riza came over to Zezilia and looked her up and down.

"Miss Zezilia, am i right?" Riza said.

"Yes ma'am. I came from Aquroya to visit here." Zezilia replied politely.

"Do you have enough clothing and a place to stay?" Riza asked.

"Um, no ma'am. I only brought clothes for my trip here and I haven't found a place to stay yet. I was thinking of renting a hotel room." Zezilia said.

Riza stood silently for a moment, thinking about what Zezilia just told her. Her stern face then changed into the face of a kind, loving mother, and she smiled. She bent down a bit to speak to Zezilia face to face.

"Well then, since you don't have a place to stay, and you need more clothes, why don't you come home with me today and we'll go shopping tomorrow. Even though I have my dog living with me I still get lonely. Plus it would be nice to have another girl in the house." Riza said with a smile.

Zezilia's face went from surprise, to astonishment, to happiness all in one second. The rest of the men in the room stood there with a blank look on their face, having never seen Hawkeye smile or act so kindly to anyone except Alphonse. Alphonse, who up to this point had been silently watching the excange between the two, spoke up.

"That would be great Zezilia! You wouldn't have to stay in a hotel! Or in the military's barracks!" Al said with as much enthusiasm as a suit of armor could produce.

Zezilia stood silently for a moment and considered her options. "Sure. I'd love to stay with you. It would be nice to live with another woman for a change."

Riza smiled and straightened up. She turned around only to see Falman, Breda, Fuery, and Havoc all staring at her with a blank, zombie-like expression. One slender golden eyebrow raised in a questioning manner.

"Well? What are you looking at? Get back to work. Now that the Colonel's back, he needs to sign his paperwork. We can't keep the military officials waiting forever just for his signature." She barked out at the four men.

Meanwhile, in Roy's office.

Roy sat behind his desk and stared at the fidgeting Ed.

"Status report Fullmetal." He said, steepling his fingers so he could lean his head on them.

"What the hell do you mean 'status report.' You were there half the time. Why do you need my statement?" Ed replied, rather subdued.

Roy was silent for a moment, taking in Edward's strange behavior. Normally, Ed would be lounging on the couch grinding his teeth, waiting for Roy to make a sarcastic remark. But Ed's behavior this time was new. He was shuffling from one foot to the other, almost as if he were uncomfortable. His head was glancing around the room, his eyes constantly avoiding Roy's. His voice held no hate or animosity like it normally did when he was talking to Roy. Instead, it was impatient, like he just wanted the whole ordeal over with.

"Edward," Roy said as Ed's head snapped towards Roy to stare at him. Roy never used Ed's given name under any circumstances, _never_. "What's the matter? Is there something bothering you?"

Ed's head once again moved away to stare at anything but Roy. Roy stood up and walked over to Ed and pulled him over to the couch. Roy sat down and pulled Ed onto the couch, sitting down next to Roy. Ed's body stiffened, unsure of what Roy was going to do next.

"Edward," Roy said, "Talk to me. I know something's wrong. I could make a short joke and you wouldn't even notice. Come on now. Your attitude is never this, dull." Roy continued, purpoesfully trying to get some reaction out of Ed.

"Shut up. Nothings wrong. It's just," Ed said. "Last night, in the hotel when we were sleeping. I woke up and went in to check in on Zezilia. She looked like she was having a bad dream. She was sweating and squirming around on the bead."

"Is that all?" Roy questioned.

"No. She was calling out for her father. And she said several other things that I couldn't catch, but." Ed stopped, not wanting to continue.

"But what Ed? I can't help you or her if I don't know whats wrong." Roy coaxed.

"One word she said, almost sounded like _that bastard's _name. But I'm probabally just being paranoid. There's no way she could possibly know _him_. And I pity her if she does. He's nothing but a homewrecker." Ed said getting up from Roy's couch and stomping around the room.

On the outside, Roy appeared the calm smirking Colonel that Edward knew him as. But on the inside, Roy was thinking. _Edward can't know. If he or Al found out, both them and Zezilia would have much more on their hands than they could handle._

"Aw, is that what's bothering the great Fullmetal Alchemist?" Roy said cockily, trying to shake of the calm mood that had settled on the room.

"Don't mock me Colonel Bastard. You know people like me more than they like you, you old fart." Ed replied hotly.

"Listen, your probabally just paranoid. After all, you do have a bunch of artificial humans after your head." Roy commented, quickly changing the topic to the homonclous that were trying to get Ed to make the Philosopher's Stone.

Ed just 'humphed' and stomped out of Roy's personal office to fetch Al and go off and hide in Central Library. Roy followed a moment later to see Zezlila and Hawkeye conversing lightly on the topic of clothes. Riza, knowing Roy was watching them and not doing his paperwork, took out her gun and quickly turned and shot at Roy. Zezilia gave a small gasp of fear, seeing how trigger-happy Riza truly was. Roy just stood still, not wanting to be shot at again.

"Sir," Riza said. "I suggest you get back to doing your paperwork. You missed alot of forms while you were out on your vacation and most of them needed to be signed already."

"Yes ma'am!" Roy shouted, turning around to escape into his office. Unfortunately, before he could close the door, Riza slipped in to moniter him, leaving Zezilia outiside with the other officers. Zezilia looked around the room at its other occupants. Three of them were back to doing whatever they had been doing before her arrival. The only one who wasn't working was Jean, the man who had first welcomed them. Jean motioned for Zezilia to have a seat next to him at the table. When Zezilia sat down, Jean started talking to her.

"So, I hear you've never been out of your hometown, is that right?" Jean said.

"Yes" Zezilia replied while shaking her head.

"What do you think of Central so far? Pretty nice eh?" He asked.

"Yes. I've never been in a city this big. There's so many people, I thought I would get lost in the crowd on our way over here." She replied, a bit embarrassed.

"That's good. But I do feel sorry for you," Jean said. "I mean, coming all that way with the Cheif _and_ the Colonel? Man, I'm surprised you made it here in one piece!" Jean joked giving Zezilia a dazzling smile.

"Oh, are they really that bad together?" She asked. "They wern't that bad on the way here. The only problem was out in the dessert."

Jean looked at her in confusion. "What happened in the dessert?"

"Oh, well, we ran out of water, and it was really hot out. Roy became a bit delusional, saying really strange things." She replied.

"Oh! I gotta hear this! Tell me," Jean said. "What kind of things was he saying?"

"Well, he said something about Alphonse having more than enough room in his armor. But I don't see how that's possibe, seeing as how Al is already in there, right?" Zezilia said, a bit confused.

She was rewarded from a blank, stunned stare from Havoc. "You don't know do you? Their story?"

"No." Zezilia replied, a bit surprised at Havoc's strange reaction.

"Well then. I'm really sorry, but I don't think I should tell you. Most of the time, when those two meet people, they learn their story eventually. I'd imagine Ed should tell you soon, if you ask the right questions." Havoc said, scratching the back of his neck in an embarrased movement.

"Oh. Maybe," Zezilia said, "maybe I'll ask Ed tomorrow."

At that moment the sound of a gun going off could be heard from the Colonel's personal room. Shortly after, Riza exited the room looking as calm as ever. She turned to Zezilia.

"Ready to go?" Riza asked.

Zezilia nodded her head and stood up, following Riza out of the room.

"Man," Breda said turning to Jean, "I feel sorry for that girl. Being stuck in a house with Hawkeye. Just thinking about it gives me chills."

A moment later the sound of loud, roaring laughter could be heard from Colonel Roy Mustang's room. But if anyone dared to ask what was so funny, the occupants would just laugh harder, leaving the mystery unsolved.


	9. New Home

A/N: This chap had a really easy time coming out. I tweaked some things, maybe the timeline a bit too. But that's about it. Thanks to Leo-kun89, Anicka, and finally WildfireDreams for actually taking the time to review this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own the FMA characters. Face it, if i did own them, i'd be rich right? however i DO own Zezilia and Riza's new dog, Mimiru.

New Home

_"I know the way to go, no one's guiding me."_

Riza led Zezilia out to her car in the parking lot. Getting in the driver's side, she unlocked the door for Zezilia to get in. Riza started up the car and drove off to her house. The trip was silent. Zezilia was looking out the window at the passing scenery. When they came to a bunch of residential houses that were finely built, Zezilia gasped. The house they stopped at was plain, but had a sense of beauty to it that no other house had. Riza stopped the car and turned to Zezilia.

"Here we are. Ready to go in?" Riza asked.

"Your house," Zezilia said. "It's so lovely. I can't wait to see the inside!"

Riza smiled at this and got out of the car, quickly followed by Zezilia. They went up to the front door and waited for Riza to unlock it. The moment the door was unlocked, the sound of barking could be heard. Entering the house further, Zezilia could see into the kitchen, where a black and white dog was jumping happily. She looked farther into the house. From what she could see, Riza must have spent a lot of money to get a house that nice. The living room was right next to the kitchen. In it was a long, beige couch and two wooden chairs, all situated around the fireplace in the center of the wall. Next to the living room was the dining room. A big oak table encompased most of the room except for one wall where a large china cabinet was. The stairs were located inbetween the doorway from the living room and the dining room.

Zezilia turned her attention back to the dog in the kitchen, watching it jump around, leaping up on the gate that was in the doorway. A moment later the dog dissappeared, and then returned, followed by a brown dog. While the black and white dog was not too fat, the brown one was huge.

"You have dogs?" Zezilia asked.

"Yes. Sorry if I didn't mention it before. You can pet them if you like." Riza said kindly, putting up her military jacket.

"They're so cute!" Zezilia said as she knealt down to pet the dogs. "What are their names?"

"The black and white one there is Black Hayate," Riza said. "And the brown one is Mimiru."

"Um, this may be a rude question but, why is Mimiru so, fat?" Zezilia asked, embarrassed from asking such a strange question.

Riza started to laugh. "The reason she's so fat, is because she's pregnant."

Zezilia looked at Riza at surprize, then asked another question. "Aww! When are the puppies due?"

"I think later on in this month. When she has them, would you like one of your own? To keep?" Riza asked.

Zezilia's eyes lit up and she jumped up and faced Riza.

"Are you serious! You mean I can have a puppy! Thank you so much! I've never had a pet before!" She said jumping around happily.

"Well, since you've never had a dog before, I guess either myself or Kain will have to teach you the rules." Riza said, watching Zezilia bounce around.

They continued like that for almost an hour, Riza and Zezilia asking questions and learning a bit about each other. Then, around five-thirty, Riza got up and headed into the kitchen.

"I hope you don't mind Zezilia, but I had made dinner plans with Roy. He'll be coming around six-fifteen. Would you like to help me make dinner?" Riza asked, already getting her ingredients together.

Zezilia eagerly agreed and bounced into the kitchen after Riza. Riza soon discovered that Zezilia was a wonderful cook, not asking any questions about measurements, like someone unfamiliar with a kitchen would. Finally, after thirty minutes of non-stop cooking, their dinner was ready. By the time they were done, though, they were both covered in flour, seasoning, and other ingredients.

"Why don't we quickly go get changed before Roy gets here ok?" Riza said with laughter sparkling in her eyes.

Zezilia looked down at her appearance and then looked up at Riza questioningly.

"But," Zezilia said. "I don't have any other clothes."

"Oh, well. That's ok. I have clothing that would fit you fine. It just might be a bit too big though. You wouldn't mind, would you?" Riza said.

Zezilia shook her head 'no' and followed Riza up the stairs to her room. When they got to the top of the steps, Zezilia could see a long hallway. There were four doors leading into four different rooms in the upstairs. The first door on the right led to one of Riza's spare bedrooms. In it was a plain bed with sky blue covers. Next to the bed was a night table. Across the room was a closet, a chest, and a mirror. The second door on the left led to the bathroom. It had all the things a bathroom needed. A tub at the back wall, a toilet next to the tub, and a sink next to the toilet. A medecine cabinet hung over the sink for easy access. The third room on the right was another spare bedroom, although it looked like someone spent nights in there occasionally. It had the same layout as the first spare bedroom, except the bed was a light yellow color and the chest was at the foot of the bed. The last door at the very end of the hallway led into Riza's room. Her queen-size bed was covered in a dark brown quilt. On both sides of the bed were two night stands. At the left side of the room was a walk in closet that was open.

Riza entered her closet and looked through her clothes picking out one shirt and a knee lenght skirt. She handed them to Zezilia. The shirt was a pale cream color with a darker cream outline. The skirt was a dark brown, with creases in it to make it look like it flowed. Zezilia immediately got changed into her clothes while Riza closed her closet and got changed in there, for privacy. When Riza exited her closet, Zezilia was able to get a good look at what she was wearing.

Riza had chosen to wear a light blue dress with a dark blue outline. The dress cut off just past her knees, and she had taken her hair down.

"Wow." Zezilia said. "You must be so lucky to be that pretty."

Riza smiled and laughed. "Yes, I guess I am. But it is sometimes a problem."

Zezilia looked confused, then laughed at Riza's unfortunate problem. Soon, Riza joined in on the laughter until her doorbell rang. Riza and Zezilia stopped laughing and headed down the stairs. Riza walked over to her front door and opened it, only to see the smiling face of Roy.

"Hello there Roy." Riza greeted as she moved aside to let Roy enter.

"Hello Riza, and hello to you too Zezilia." Roy said as he walked into the house.

Riza closed the door after Roy and walked into the kitchen.

"Zezilia?" Riza asked. "Would you help me set the table so we can eat?"

"Sure." Zezilia replied following Riza into the kitchen, leaving Roy standing in the living room.

Later, after the table was set and everyone was sitting down eating, the conversation started.

"So, Zezi." Roy said. "How do you like it in Central so far?"

"It's actually really nice. From the way you described it to me in your letters, I had thought it would be much more crowded." Zezilia replied.

Riza shot Roy a confused look out of the corner of her eye. Roy sighed and turned to Riza.

"I suppose I should explain some things shouldn't I?" He asked.

"Yes, please do." Riza said.

Roy took a deep breath and started to tell Riza the real reason Zezilia was in Central. "During the summer about ten years ago, I made a trip to Aquroya, do you remember?"

Riza shook her head yes in understanding.

"Well," Roy continued. "I was visiting an old friend, but he was also Zezilia's father. After a few days of visiting, he informed Zezilia and I that he was going to take a trip. He asked me if I would look after Zezilia. I said I would, after all, she was only five at the time. He later left on a boat, although he never returned to Aquroya, we met him out in a small village on our way back here with Fullmetal."

"Ah, so now I understand." Riza said. "One question, who was the father?"

Roy and Zezilia looked at each other, silently asking each other if they should tell. Roy turned back to Riza and took another deep breath.

"Zezilia's father," He began. "Is the Hoenheim of Light."

The only sign that Riza was surprised, was the slight widening of her eyes. Then she laughed gently and smiled at Roy.

"I really should have expected that. Only you would get yourself into situations like this." Riza laughed.

Roy's face turned serious then. "Edward and Alphonse cannot know that they have the same father as Zezilia. If they, Edward especially, find out, who knows what they'll do."

Riza nodded her head in understanding. Conversation stopped after that, and dinners' remains were soon cleaned up. They retired to Riza's living room to sit and rest. Roy, Riza, and Zezilia sat on the couch, with Zezilia on the left side, Riza on the right, and Roy in the middle. They carried on small talk until Roy felt a slight weight upon his left arm. He looked down to see Zezilia's head and body slumped over in sleep. Riza chuckled at the sight and got up. She pulled a blanket out from behind the couch and sat down again, covering her, Zezilia, and Roy in the same motion. Later, Roy and Riza both fell asleep on the couch also. The only consious life in the house then was Riza's two dogs, Black Hayate and Mimiru, who were playing quietly in the kitchen.


	10. Sightings

A/N:  so sorry it took so long to get this chap. out... i was away over easter break an had no acces to a computer... i was probabally very VERY far away from any useful technology... sorry. anyways here it is! the next chapter! still thanks to my only reviewers... Leo-kun89, Anicka, and WildfireDreams. thanks so much for reviewing... really!

Sightings

_"Caution on the road. Lies, lies and hidden danger."_

Roy awoke the next morning in a position he was not used to being in, sitting. On a couch. And he didn't know where he was. The room was still blurry as he opened his eyes to see where he was. He sat up fully and looked around the room. Next to him slept Zezilia and Riza. The memories of last night came back to him. Roy got up as carefully as he could, trying not to wake the two sleeping women still on the couch. He went into the kitchen and found Riza's coffee maker. Roy was in the middle of making eggs for breakfast when Zezilia walked into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" She asked, still half-asleep.

"I'm making breakfast for the three of us." Roy replied, still cooking the eggs.

"Are you making your Famous Pan-Fried Eggs?" Zezilia asked as she instantly woke up.

Roy just laughed and turned back to the stove. He flipped the pan and the eggs landed on a plate next to the stove. Zezilia walked over to the plate, picked it up, and placed it on the kitchen table. She left the kitchen while Roy was geting three cups for everyone. Zezilia then walked back in, tugging a drowsy Riza along with her. They all sat down with their own drinks and took some eggs onto their own plates.

Riza turned to Roy. "This is wonderful! I never knew you could cook so well."

"I've always known how to cook, I just never did it much. But I remembered how much Zezi loved my eggs when she was little. She even named them." Roy said, still eating the eggs.

"Yup!" Zezilia said. "It's Uncle Roy's Famous Pan-Fried Eggs!"

Roy smiled slightly and looked at Riza's clock above her stove. He turned to Riza.

"We should be going into work soon huh?" He asked.

Riza shook her head and got up from the table, bringing her empty plate to the sink. Roy and Zezilia both followed her actions. Riza walked Roy to the front door and said goodbye. When Roy left Riza turned to Zezilia and motioned upstairs. Zezilia followed Riza into her bedroom once again. Riza pulled her military uniform off of the back of the door where it was hanging.

"You can go into my closet and find something to wear. Most of my clothes will probabally fit you. Then when my shift is over we can go out and find you some of your own clothes ok?" Riza said, pushing Zezilia to her walk in closet.

Zezilia closed the closet doors to give both herself and Riza privacy. She looked through Riza's different choices of clothes. Zezilia finally found a pair of blue jeans and a black, halter-top. She walked out of the closet to see Riza, fully dressed and putting her hair up. Riza looked at Zezilia and handed her a brush for her hair and a band to hold her hair back. Zezilia pulled her hair back into a braid and followed Riza downstairs to the front door. Riza handed Zezilia a pair of black boots that went just above her ankles. Riza pulled on her military boots and waited for Zezilia to put on the boots she gave her.

"Ready to go?" Riza asked as Zezilia straightened up.

Zezilia nodded and they both walked out the door, into Riza's car. The ride to the office was filled with more conversation between the two. When they arrived at the office, however, everything was a mess. There were soldiers running around franticly while other military personell were handing out guns and other standard weapons. Riza quickly got out of her car and, followed by Zezilia, rushed to Roy's office. When they entered, they saw that the office wasn't much better. Riza walked up to Roy's office and went up to where Roy was sitting at his desk.

"Sir," Riza said. "May I know what exactly is going on here?"

Roy nodded. "Earlier this morning Scar was spotted with a strange man near one of the military compounds. Shortly after they left, a small portion of the building blew up. We have reason to believe that Scar and this man are working together, but we're not sure if one of them is being forced to work with the other."

"Why is that sir?" Riza asked.

"The way the building blew up. It wasn't Scar's style at all. So either Scar is forcing this man to work with him, or it's the other way around and the man is forcing Scar to work with him." Roy explained.

During this time Zezilia had been standing outside of Roy's office helping the other officers when another soldier barged into the room, rushing to Roy's office. He opened the door and ran up to Roy.

"Sir!" The soldier said.

"Yes Lieutennant?" Roy asked.

"The military soldiers in the western compound have spotted Scar. He's managed to get inside the main building. It is advised that you find the quickest and safest way out of the building." The Lieutennant said.

"Thank you for the warning Lieutennant, but I will stay here with my subordinates." Roy said.

"But sir," The Lieutennant started.

"No Lieutennant. Go and warn any other state alchemists in the building. Do that for me and there will be a promotion waiting for you when this is all over." Roy said calmly.

The Lieutennant nodded and hurried out of Roy's office to warn any other state alchemists. After he left, Havoc entered Roy's office.

"What about Edward sir?" Havoc asked. "He probabally got wind of the situation and, knowing him, went out to confront Scar."

Roy suddenly became five shades whiter, from the realization of what Edward would do. He stood up and walked to his office door. Roy turned around and faced his subordinates.

"I am going out to find Fullmetal. Hawkeye and Havoc will accompany me. Breda, Falman, and Fuery will stay here and protect Zezilia." They all nodded in accecptance and Riza and Jean walked towards Roy. They left the room, leaving Zezilia with her three "protectors." Breda turned to Zezilia with a questioning look on his face.

"Um," Zezilia said. "Is something... wrong?"

Breda shook his head. "No. It's just. Well, the Colonel never shows this much care towards anyone. Except Ed when he's not around. Why is that?"

"You mean he didn't tell you?" Zezilia asked.

All three occupants of the room shook their head no in response. Zezilia smiled and sighed.

"He's my uncle." She said.

Breda, Falman, and Fuery stood there, gaping like three fish. Zezilia laughed at their reaction.

"The Colonel never mentioned anything about having relatives." Fuery said.

"That's strange. You don't look anything like him." Falman stated.

"Wow." Was all Breda could say.

Zezilia smiled nervously. _Geeze. Will I have to explain everything to these guys! Oh well. Here goes._

"Well, I'm not really blood related to him. You see, my father was a good friend of his and Roy came to see me often when I was younger. Then, since I never knew my mother and my father had to go away, Roy gained custody over me." She said.

"Well," Falman said. "That explains everything."

The office quieted down after that, with all of them going back to their previous work, oblivious to what was going on outside the building.

Outside

Roy, Riza, and Jean snuck along the side of the building, trying to blend into the mayhem in order to quickly find Ed. Guns were going off left and right in the confusion, trying to find a target that may not be there. Soldiers were shouting to other soldiers, while higher ranking officers were attempting to give orders. Roy, Riza, and Jean finally made it around the building to the western compound. There, a mass of soldiers were shooting at a target hidden in a dust cloud created by the mayhem. From inside the cloud a red, static-like light was going off every so often. These lights were accompanied by yellow flashes.

Roy walked up to the soldier in charge. "Lieutennant Colonel, let me have a shot. I might be able to smoke them out."

The Lieutennant Colonel nodded and gave room for Roy to work. The moment Roy stepped into his place, he snapped, setting off a large spark of fire. A small shout could be heard from inside the cloud of smoke. Roy turned to Riza and Havoc.

"You two go and see if you can locate Fullmetal." He said. At Riza's concerned look he spoke again. "I'll hold up things here. You don't need to worry. I can handle it."

With that Riza and Jean left to find Edward and Alphonse, this time without their Colonel.


	11. Encounter

A/N.  haha! i got this chapter out in no time right? ... ok well maybe it took a little longer that i thought... but i swear i had most of it done before i went on vacation! but, i couldnt post it b'cause my internet wouldnt lemme log in to so i was screwed for a while... well, anyway, thanks to Anicka, WildfireDreams, and Leo-kun89 for liking this story enough to review it. luv ya much!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Encounter

_"Eat to live? Or live to eat? Either way, does it really matter? We survive doing both, right?"_

Inside Roy's office Edward suddenly burst in, startling all of the room's occupants. Alphonse came jogging in behind him, scolding him for breaking the Colonel's door, again.

"Brother! You should be more careful! You could have hurt someone! Now we have to buy the Colonel another door!" He scolded.

Edward ignored Al's rant and looked around the room. He went up to Falman.

"Where's the Bastard Colonel?" Edward asked.

Zezilia stepped in between Ed and Falman and answered Ed's question.

"Roy, Riza and Mr. Havoc went out to look for you Ed." She said, slightly glaring at Ed.

Ed noticed Zezilia glaring at him. "Is there something wrong? I don't think I did anything wrong yet. Did I?" He asked, confused as to why he was being glared at.

Zezilia huffed and said, "You just broke his door! Could you be even less considerate!"

"So? I break down his doors all the time. The bastard just makes me buy him a new one." Ed said.

"And that's another thing!" Zezilia shouted. "Stop calling him a bastard! I don't care what he did to you but he must have had a good reason!"

"Why the hell should you care! He only wanted you here for one of his plans to get a promotion! That man doesn't give a damn about what hapens to you or me or anyone else except himself! He's just a power-hungry, inconsiderate, skirt-chasing, pompous-ass!" Ed shouted back in response.

"_Enough!_" She glared at Ed and spoke in a calm but angry voice. "I care because he's my uncle. And don't you _dare_ talk about him like that again. I know he mainly focuses on getting a promotion but he's a good man. I can see why he gets so frustrated with you all the time _dear_ Edward."

By this time the rest of the occupants in the room were cringing in fear of the two. Edward's shocked appearance stared at Zezilia as she told him about Roy. From the corner Alphonse spoke up.

"I'm sorry Zezilia. Brother didn't mean it. He just get's angry sometimes." Alphonse tried to explain.

Then from the doorway a voice spoke up.

"State Alchemist Edward Elric. I've found you. Now it is time to face the right hand of God."

Six pairs of eyes turned to the doorway to look at the unwelcome intruder. It was a man who stood about above average height with tan skin and red eyes. His clothes were torn up and obviously for use in the desert. His blondish hair added to his desert appearance. The only thing out of place was the x-shapped scar across his forehead.

Ed was the first one to confront the figure. "Scar! What do you want!"

"I came to deliver God's punisment on the all the state alchemists. You will be the first to die today. Consider yourself lucky." Scar said as he approached Ed.

Edward took a step back for each step Scar took forward. The others were too scared to do anything to try to help Ed. Edward's back finally touched the wall and he transmuted his arm into a blade. He started to fight back against Scar, but before he could do anything, gunshots came from the broken doorway. Seven heads turned to Riza and Havoc, who were standing in the doorway, guns poised to fire. Riza fired her gun once again, hitting Scar in the side of his abdomen.

"Owww!" Scar whined. "Did you really have to shoot me?"

Everyone in the room stared at Scar as he did something that was completely uncharastic of him. He sat down on the floor holding his wounded side and continued to whine.

"Really! Have you ever been shot? Don't you know how much that hurts! And here I thought you humans were more civil than that." He whined.

"Stop your whining now and tell us who you really are." Riza commanded, pointing her gun at the imposter Scar.

"At least someone is smart enough to figure it out." The imposter Scar said as he stood up. "I would've thought that the Fullmetal Pipsqueak would figure it out but apparently he's too dense to do that even."

The imposter Scar's body lighted up and changed its shape. Now, instead of Scar, there stood a different figure. It's pale, lithe body was covered in tight fabric, only covering it's upper chest and it's upper thighs. A mass of black-green hair spiked out from the figure's head, covering most of it's back and face. It's violet cat eyes glared at Riza before turning on Edward.

"Envy!" Ed shouted. "What the hell are you doing here!"

"I've come to check up on a little rumor I heard." Envy said as he sauntered over to Zezilia.

He grabbed her by the jaw and forced her to look him in the eyes. Envy stared at her eyes for a long time before snorting and pushing her away. He turned around only to have Edward attempt to slash at him with his blade. Envy flipped to the side and leapt to the window, opening it as he went. He perched at the window and turned to Ed.

"What the hell was that for!" Edward demanded.

"Like i said Pipsqueak," he said. "I came to check a rumor."

"What was the damn rumor?" Edward growled out.

"That bastard had more than two kids. Keep that in mind, my dear Pipsqueak." Envy said jumping out the window and disappearing.

Outside

Roy snapped again and again, trying to hit the figure in the smoke. Finally he stopped to let the smoke clear up a bit. Slowly, a form could be seen standing in the smoke. The figure then crouched low and rushed at Roy. Roy quickly sidestepped in order to get a look at who it was, but before he could get a close look the shooting began agian behind him. He turned, distracted for a moment. The forgotten figure swung down and kicked Roy's feet out from under him, making him fall. Roy was now looking up at none other than Scar.

"Flame Alchemist, Roy Mustang." Scar said over the shooting. "It is time for you to make amends for the lives you killed."

Before Scar could do anything a black figure tackled him and disappeared. Roy looked around to see where Scar had gone and noticed the shooting had stopped. He got up and turned to one of the soldiers.

"What happened?" He asked.

"A man jumped out of the window and started attacking the military personel." The soldier said. "We were ordered to stop him from escaping but he got passed us, grabbed Scar, and disappeared."

Roy thanked the soldier for the report and headed back to his office.

Inside

Ed was pacing back and forth across the room while everyone else was sitting down, trying to figure out what Envy had meant. Zezilia was still sitting on the floor from when Envy had pushed her and she fell. Just then, Roy came back into his office. He looked around as his subordinates snapped up to a salute then sat back down. He went over to Edward, who was still pacing.

"Fullmetal," Roy said. "What's going on here?"

Edward didn't stop pacing as he gave his response. "It was the homunclus Envy. He came here with posing as Scar to check on a rumor he heard."

"What exactly was this rumor Fullmetal?" Roy questioned.

"That '_that bastard has more than two kids._'" Edward said. "Gah, dammit. I don't know what he means by that! I know who the bastard is he was talking about but that makes it more confusing."

"What do you mean more confusing?" Roy asked. "Care to fill us in?"

Ed glared at Roy for a moment before sighing. "The bastard, shouldn't have more than two kids. Me and Al are his only two so," Ed drifted off going back into thought again.

Roy looked over to Zezilia and made eye contact with her. Zezilia got up and followed Roy out into the hallway, away from everyone's ears.

"What hapened?" Roy asked as he noticed the slight brusing on Zezilia's cheek.

Zezilia touched the bruise and sighed. "That thing, Envy, I think, grabbed me."

Roy knealed down to Zezilia's height. "Are you ok?" He asked.

Zezilia shook her head no in response and fell into Roy. He immediately wrapped his arms around her in a warm embrace. Then, soft sobs wracked her small frame. Roy made comforting noises and tried to help Zezilia.

"I... I was so scared." She sobbed. "I didn't know what to do and... and I just stood there."

"Shhh. It's ok now. He's gone. You don't have to worry anymore. I'm here again. I said I would protect you right?" Roy said in a soft voice.

They stayed like that until Zezilia fell asleep. Roy picked her up and went into his office. He turned to Riza.

"I'm going to take her back with me if that's alright." He said.

Riza nodded her head and Roy left, taking a cab back to his house. Zezilia was out the whole way there until Roy went to place her on the couch. Zezilia opened her eyes and blinked at Roy.

"Uncle Roy?" She asked.

"What is it Zezi? What do you want?" Roy asked in reply.

"What time is it?" She asked, looking around for a clock.

"Um, about..." Roy took out his pocket watch and opened it. "Five thirty-six. Why?"

"Would it be ok if we went out to eat? Please?" She said as she sat up, giving Roy a pleading look.

Roy laughed and nodded in reply. He went upstairs and got changed. When he came down he had brought some old clothes with him for Zezilia to wear, seeing as how her clothes were covered in dust from the day. He directed Zezilia to the bathroom for her to get changed and waited. When she came out they left.

"Where would you like to eat?" Roy asked.

"Is there any really good place that has tonkatsu?" She asked.(1)

Roy thought for a minute then made a turn down a street. He finally stopped at a restaraunt far down the block. He parked the car and they got out. When they got inside they were surprised to see how packed it was. Roy went up to a waiter and asked if they had any tables left. The waiter said that they had one more table left, but they had to clean it off first if he and Zezilia didn't mind waiting. Roy went back to Zezilia and waited until the waiter came out and directed them to the table in the back. When they were handed menus Roy declined, saying that they already knew what they wanted for dinner. Roy ordered two plates of tonkatsu along with one cup of tea for Zezilia and one cup of coffee for himself. They ate dinner in peace, talking about the day's events. The waiter came back and gave them a dessert menu.

Roy looked at Zezilia. "What would you like?"

Zezilia studied the menu carefully and lifted her head. "I want a chocolate sin cake."(2)

Roy nodded and called the waiter back. He ordered Zezilia's cake and a small fruit gelatin cup for himself. They were almost finished their dessert when a familiar voice shouted through the restaraunt.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT HE STILL NEEDS HIS DADDY!" The voice shouted.

Roy chuckled and motioned for the waiter to come over.

"Can you do me a favor and lead that kid and his friend over to us please? I'll give you an extra tip if you do." Roy said, shooing off the waiter as soon as he was done talking.

A moment later the waiter returned, followed by a fuming Ed and a highly embarassed Al. They both sat down at Roy's table.

"I don't know how you ever earned respect, acting like that." Roy laughed. "Honestly. The people in the next town over probabally hear you."

Ed sulked. "What do you want?" He demanded.

"Nothing." Roy replied. "I assumed that you had come here to eat and was offering for you to dine here with us. Even though we already ate, we'd be glad to stay and keep you company. Right Zezilia?"

Zezilia nodded and continued eating her cake.

Ed's eyes lit up at the mention of free food, paid for by his own Colonel. "You're serious? You'd actually buy us dinner?" He asked.

Roy nodded and gave Ed a spare dinner menu, along with the dessert menu that he still had. Ed ordered a bowl of miso soup along with a bowl of fried rice.(3)(4)

Ed ate his dinner as the four occupants of the table talked some more. Finally, Ed finished and looked at Roy.

"Thanks. I haven't had food like that in ages. Al normally cooks food for us, but we ran out." He said.

"No problem Ed." Roy said.

Ed's face gained a confused expression. "Hey, are you sick or something? You never call me Ed."

Roy laughed. "We're both off duty right?" He asked. At Ed's nod he continued. "Then I see no reason to call you by your military name when you're off duty. Plus, it's really a mouthful."

Eveyone grinned and got up from the table, finally finished eating. Roy paid for the food and they all went outside and stopped.

Ed turned to Roy again. "Hey, um. Thanks again for the food." He said sheepishly.

"Like I said, it's no problem." Roy replied.

They all said their goodbyes and went their respective ways, Ed and Al walking back to the barracks, and Roy and Zezilia driving back to Roy's home. By the time they got back home, Zezilia was barely able to get herself into the house before collapsing in a sleep induced coma. Roy picked her up and went upstairs to his guest bedroom. He placed Zezilia on the bed and put the covers over top of her. Roy then went to his own room and quickly fell asleep.

(1)Tonkatsu are deep fried pork cutlets. Tonkatsu is usually served with shredded cabbage or on top of cooked rice (katsudon) or with Japanese style curry rice (katsu kare).

(2) Chocolate sin cake is a three layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting separating the layers. It sometimes has fruit topping it. its very VERY yummie )

(3)Miso soup is often served as a side dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is made by dissolving miso paste in hot water and adding additional ingredients such as wakame seaweed and small pieces of tofu.

(4)Fried rice or chahan has been originally introduced from China. A variety of additional ingredients such as peas, egg, negi (Japanese leek) and small pieces of carrot and pork are mixed to the rice when stir fried. It is a suitable dish for using left over rice.


	12. Shopping Day

1A/N: Sorry this was so late, i had school work and other stuff going on. And to top it off, a huge case of writer's block. Anyway, im sorry i can't thank the people who reviewed the story so far. My internet's down and this was the one chance i had to post this chapter.

Disclaimer: do i really need one of these things? well, i don't own fullmetal alchemist, or any of it's characters. except for zezilia and riza's dog mimiru. they're all mine. but its common sense people, if i DID own it, would i really be writing fanfiction about it? nope, i'd probabally just alter the plot line or something. but since i don't own it, then i cant change the plot that belongs to whoever owns it.

Shopping Day

_"According to logic, this is a case of incorrect information."_

Roy woke the next morning and got out of bed, threw on his robe, and went down into his kitchen to make some coffee. While he was waiting for his coffee, he went outside, got the newspaper, came back in and fixed himself some toast. He sat at the table, drinking coffee, eating toast, and reading the paper when the thought hit him. _'Oh! That's right! Zezi is here. Better go wake her up and make her some breakfast.' _So Roy got up from the table and headed upstairs to where Zezilia was sleeping. Halfway up the stairs, Zezilia's form appeared at the top. Her hair sticking out in all directions, fell into her eyes, covering their vision. She placed her foot down and missed the first step and started to fall. Roy, acting on instinct, held out his arms to catch her. Once she was safely back on her feet again, Roy greeted her properly.

"Hey. Are you always this clumsy in the morning?" He asked.

She grunted and walked into the kitchen, smelling food. Roy chuckled and followed her into the kitchen to make sure she didn't eat his food. When he entered, he saw Zezilia sitting at the table looking at him expectantly. Roy smiled and went to his stove, heating up a pan to cook french toast. When he finished, he place the plate of french toast in front of Zezilia, giving her a cup of milk to wash it down, and sat down. They finished eating breakfast in peace. After, Roy went upstairs to get into his military uniform. Zezilia waited outside Roy's door until he got finished. When Roy opened his door, he saw Zezilia sitting in front of it, blocking his path.

"Did you want something or do you just enjoy sitting on the floor in front of people's doors?" He asked, a smirk growing on his face.

Zezilia stood up and stared at him. "Uncle Roy. Do you have short term memory loss or something? Remember, I came here with no extra clothes."

Roy's face got a blank look as he fell into thought. "Um, well. You could wear some of my clothes that don't fit me anymore. Sure they'll be a bit big but, it'll work right?"

Zezilia smiled and nodded in reply as Roy walked back into his room to find Zezilia some clothes. When he came back out he handed her the clothes and followed her to the spare room door.

"Today I'll give Hawkeye a half day so she can take you shopping for clothes. And, if Fullmetal's around you can drag him with you." Roy said through the door.

Zezilia's laughter came through the door a moment before it opened up to reveal her, dressed in clothing that was just too big for her size. The tan shirt hung off her shoulders a bit while the baggy jeans hung off her hips and completely covered her feet. Signaling that she was ready, Zezilia followed Roy to his car. The drive to the office seemed to take longer than yesterday only because Zezilia had already seen everything on the roads. Pulling into the military's lot, Roy's car was greeted by two soldiers standing guard at the entrance. Roy parked the car and both of them got out, entering the building from a side entrance.

In the halls, Roy gave salutes to every military personell, no matter what rank they were. Finally coming to his office Roy opened the door. When he walked inside, he was greeted with an extrememly rare sight. Everyone was in the office, but they were all sleeping, even Riza. Roy looked around the room in confusion and walked over to the sleeping Riza. He tapped her on the shoulder to try and wake her up, but it didn't work. Then Zezilia, seeing the unusual problem Roy was having with his subordinates, walked over to the closet in the office. She pulled out a fog horn and moved next to Riza's ear. She crouched down under the table and placed the horn right up to her ear. A moment later, a loud, annoying noise went off throughout the office, waking everyone. Riza jumped up with her gun drawn, while Havoc, Fuery, Breada, and Falman all cowered together in the corner of the room they immediately jumped to.

From under the table Riza could hear snickering, while behind her she heard loud laughter. Turning around, her gun came upon the face of Roy, laughing hysterically at what just happened. Seeing Roy, she replaced her gun back into it's holster and turned to look under the table, where she found Zezilia, holding her hand over her mouth to keep her from laughing out loud.

Riza stood back up and looked around the office and turned back to Roy.

She pointed her gun at him and said, "Give me one good reason not to shoot you right now for that stunt you pulled."

Zezilia shot up from under the table and stepped in front of Riza, still laughing. "Don't blame Uncle Roy. It was my idea."

Riza lowered her gun to her side. After a moment, a small smile appeared on her face. The smile turned into a grin which turned into laughter. Everyone in the office, except Zezilia, was amazed to see Riza actually laughing instead of scowling or stone faced. Once Riza's laughter died down, some sense of normalcy returned to the office. About mid-day, just before Riza and Zezilia were leaving to go shopping, Ed and Al came into the office.

Zezilia grabbed a hold of Ed's arm before he could take another step. Ed looked at Zezilia, and tried to pry her off his arm.

"Ed." Zezilia said. "You are coming with me and Riza to go shopping for clothes."

Ed's face drained of all color once he heard what was in store for him. He made a desperate attempt to shake Zezilia off his arm. When that didn't work, he looked around the room for help from the others. All he got was a few shrugs and laughter from Roy, who found Ed's problem very amusing. Ed finally gave up and let Zezilia lead him away with Riza. They followed Riza to her car and got in, letting Riza drive them to the market.

Back in the Office

Roy's laughter died down as he turned to go back into his personal office.

"Poor sod." He said before closing his door and falling asleep on the stack of papers that had multiplied since last night. (1)

At the Market

Riza parked her car and got out, followed by Zezilia and a very reluctant Ed. Zezilia's face lit up when she looked at all of the stores there were. Getting a firm hold on Ed's wrist, Zezilia pulled him into the first clothes shop she found. Once inside they were greeted by a clerk behind the desk, who informed them that if they bought more than five things, the sixth was 75 off, the seventh was 50 off, the eighth was 25 off and the ninth was 15 off and the tenth was free. Zezilia smiled happily and dragged Ed off into the shirt section.

"Stand there while I compare shirts on you ok?" She said holding up a red and a yellow shirt next to his body. After going through most of the rack, she decided that black, white, and brown were definitely color's that would make him look good. She picked out one black muscle-shirt and one white muscle-shirt, along with a white formal shirt and a brown vest for special occasions. She also found a black shirt that went over the muscle-shirts. Next she dragged Ed into the pants section and went to work immediately. She held up jeans, leather pants, and shorts, finally deciding on a few pairs. Ed now had five shirts, six pairs of jeans, two more leather pants, three khaki shorts and four pairs of dress pants. By the time they were ready to buy for all the clothes, the store clerk just waved them off telling them to keep all the stuff as long as they put out a good word for the store.

Exiting the store, Ed and Zezilia met up with Riza at a ice-cream stand and sat down and ordered. Once they ate their ice-cream they went back to the car and dropped the bags containing Ed's new clothing in the trunk and went back to the market to shop for Zezilia. This time, however, it was Riza who dragged Zezilia off and left Ed rushing to catch up. They entered a popular store with the latest fashions, but soon discovered that Zezilia didn't care all that much for the fashion, so they left to find another store. Ed, who was waiting outside the whole time, had spotted a store that had clothing he thought Zezilia might like so he showed them it. Once inside, Zezilia's eyes lit up and she ran into the store, immersing herself in the millions of clothing racks. Ed sat in a chair by the door and waited for Zezilia to finish her shopping. Two hours later Zezilia finally came to the desk with an armful of clothes and asked the clerk to ring it up. Unlike the last store, this store had no percent off sales and Zezilia was forced to pay for every single thing, tax included. After the clerk read the total amount due, Ed's jaw dropped, but Zezilia just fished the money out of her pocket and paid, grabbing the many bags and exited the store.

Once outside, Ed spoke to Zezilia. "Four hundred eighty for that much clothing! What in the world did you buy?"

Zezilia smiled and laughed. "You'll find out later ok? And really, four hundred eighty isn't that much. I've paid for worse."

Ed's jaw dropped once again as he stared at the two women who just spent so much money shopping and thougth nothing of it. _'Women really do have confusing ways of doing things.' _Ed though as he walked back to the car with them. Riza placed Zezilia's bags in the trunk along with Ed's. She drove back to the military office and dropped Ed and his bags off at the barracks that he and Al were staying at. After turning around, she and Zezilia headed back to Riza's house while talking about the event's earlier on in the day.

(1) the poor sod thing came from a fullmetal alchemist book my friend got me for my birthday. it's not a manga, but an actually book with typed writings and paragraphs. if anyone want's to know what its called and/or where to get it just tell me and ill answer you.


	13. To The North

**A/N:  hey... i truly am sorry that i havent updated in the longest time... my familys having some major problems that involve daily visits to the hospital so i haven't exactly had time to type anything up... that and i was working for the past two weeks on getting my service hours for next school year... anyways... the book is the second in its series and its called The Abducted Alchemist by Makoto Inoue. It's around $10.00. i dont really know exactly _where_ to find it because my friend got it for me as a christmas gift. ) Thanks for all the reviews again!**

**Disclaimer: i, sadly, dont own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of it's characters. i DO own Zezilia and Mimiru (Riza's new pregnant dog) and the plot. so dont try to sue me because you'll get nothing, because that's how much i really own.**

**P.S. i dont think i ever said when exactly this is going on... anyways... in THIS story.. Maes is on vacation with his family to some tropical island and people have knowledge about the homonculi... although the stuff they know is very limited... ) i hope that clears up some stuff... i think**

To The North

_"But I was scared to death of eternity, I was saved by grace, but destroyed by naivety. And I lied to myself and said it was for the best."_

Zezilia woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon and eggs. Slowly getting up, she then made her way downstairs to the kitchen where Riza was cooking breakfast. Zezilia went in and immediately fell down into a seat at the table, letting her head drop down for lack of proper support. Riza, knowing how tired Zezilia was, continued cooking their breakfast. A few moments passed and a soft grumbling noise could be heard from the table. Looking over, Riza realized that Zezilia had fallen asleep on the table and was now drooling all over her table-cloth. Sighing, she finished cooking and brought two plates over to the table. Riza reached over and gently shook Zezilia's shoulder, trying to wake her up.

"Unh-uh mom'y. I don' wanna' go t' scho' today." Zezilia moaned sleepily.

Once again, Riza reached over and shook Zezilia's shoulder, but harder this time. Finally, after a few more shakes, Zezilia woke up to find her breakfast shoved under her nose. Laughing at her bewildered look, Riza started to make conversation with the now semi-concious Zezilia.

"If you don't hurry up and eat your breakfast, I'm going to feed it to the dogs." Riza said.

At this, Zezilia's eyes made contact with Riza's and she stared at Riza with wide eyes. "You wouldn't really do that would you?" She asked, terrified that her precious food source would be fed to someone that wasn't even human.

Riza laughed and sat down at the other end of the table with her own plate of food. Soon, they both found their way into pleasant conversation and quickly ate their breakfast. Afterwards, while Riza was giving the leftovers to Black Hayate and Mimiru, Zezilia left and headed back upstairs to change into proper attire. Once she was done, Zezilia treaded back downstairs to meet Riza waiting at her front door. Together they left the house and drove to the office.

**'''''''''At the Office'''''''''**

The area around the Central Military building was unnaturally quiet. Sure, there were birds chirping and cars speeding along the roads, but it was the lack of shouting that was unusual. The silence was so profound that one low-ranking military official suggested that a investigation be commenced to discover why it was so quiet. "This is exac'ly like tha' time when m' great gran-ma ask'd m' great gran-dad if sh' was puttin' on weight an' 'e said yes. It wa' like th' silenc' b'fore th' storm. The 'ole town was eerily quiet 'til she sho' 'im in th' butt." One soldier had commented. A few moments later, the soldier's comment had proved to be correct, as shouting could be heard from the east wing of the military building. After the shouting came an explosion which blew the roof off of the particular area the shouting had come from.

This was the scene to which Riza and Zezilia had arrived. Seeing the smoke, Zezilia immediately panicked, wondering what was going on and if everyone was alright. Riza just smiled and continued to drive her car into the garage, where she parked and turned to Zezilia.

"It must be Monday." Riza said.

Zezilia shot her a confused look, silently asking Riza to explain.

Riza laughed and started to walk off in the direction of the office. "Every Monday, without fail, the Colonel and Edward get into a great argument. The end result is usually the roof being blown off, like you saw today, or the east wing being transmuted into something horriffic. Either way, it's embarrasing for the both of them at the end, mainly because they always seem to end up in a suggestible position."

Zezilia snickered and followed Riza into the main entrance to the building and down into the east wing. Looking around, Zezilia came to the conclusion that it must have been _some _argument for the whole roof to have been blown off. She trailed after Riza, staring at the walls, which looked like they were about to crumble down around them any moment now. Finally reaching the end of the hallway where the office was, they were met with an interesting sight. Roy was laying down on the floor on his stomach, arms wraped around something underneath him. That something underneath him wiggled and an automail arm was revealed from underneath Roy's position. Overall, it looked like the two of them were having a bit too much fun in a destroyed office building.

"Are they doing what I think they're doing? Or is that just the normal end result you told me about earlier." Zezilia asked, staring at the two males still laying on the floor.

Riza nodded her head, stepped closer to the two, and cleared her throat. "I know how much you two love each other, but is it really necessary to do it in the office? You do realize that you blew up the roof again, and you have to fix it."

The reaction she got was almost instant. Roy jumped up and leapt far away from Ed, while Ed laid on the floor and stared at the sky. After another second of staring, Ed rolled his head to look at Riza and Zezilia standing at what used to be the doorway to the office.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey yourself." Riza replied. "Get up and clean yourself off. You have to fix the mess you made."

Ed nodded and got up, clapped, and promptly put the building back to its original form. It was then that the rest of Roy's subordinates came into the newly fixed room. Fuery, seeing the fixed room, turned to Zezilia.

"Did you see them blow it up this time?" He asked.

Zezilia shook her head. "No. I only saw the end result, apparently."

Fuery smiled and then stared at Riza. "This is one of the only times that she acts like a mother to those two in the office. The rest of the time she's either silent and staring, giving out orders, or shooting at them."

After he finished speaking, Fuery walked off to start on his work with everyone else. Roy, having finished brushing the dust off himself, walked over to his personal office door and called Zezilia in. He sat down behind his desk and motioned for Zezilia to sit on the couch. Roy stared at her a few seconds before he started to talk.

"Today I am going to give Fullmetal a new assignment." He said. "Unfortunately, since the Führer requested me to accompany him, I will be unable to stay here and spend time with you. However, I have asked permission to have you come along, if you want. When I requested this, the Führer decided that it would be great to have someone tag along, for observation purposes only. So, would you like to come?"

Zezilia stared, jaw wide open, and looking like a gaping fish, before she nodded her head yes. Roy motioned for her to have a seat on the couch as he got up to call Edward in. Moments later, Ed entered and sat in the chair next to the couch. Silence fell over the room as he waited for Roy to say something. Finally Roy sat back down behind his desk and spoke to Ed.

"Fullmetal, you have a new assignment." He paused and waited for Ed's nod of approval before continuing. "The only problem is that I have been requested to accompany you."

At this statement, Ed's eyes opened wide and he jumped up, and started shouting curses to whatever being decided to stick him with a 'lazy bastard who only wanted to get into women's pants.' His rant was cut short by Roy, as he continued speaking about the assignment.

"However, Zezilia will also be comming along, so you don't have to worry about making a report, since she'll be writing down her own observations in place of the standard report. Anyway, we'll be going up north to a town on the border of Amestris and Creta. The town is called Magnus-murus. It's one of the only towns in that one area, since the area is normally inhabited by bandits, rogue alchemists, assassins, and outlaws. Magnus-murus is protected by a giant wall, that makes it almost impossible to get in and out unless you have clearance by the cheif of police there."

By this time Ed had sat back down and had a quizzical look upon his face. "Ok, I can see why they might have a few problems. But why would the state send two alchemists out to fix it? Seems pretty weird to me."

Roy nodded and continued reading the description of the assignment. "Lately, it seems there have been a few disappearances in the town. Most of them were lower political officials. But since no one is allowed out without clearance, it's very hard to send out a search party, especially with the many dangers outside of the town. Even more suspicious is the fact that there's a deserted roadway leading from the town to an abandoned warehouse."

Ed nodded his head in understanding. "Ok, so all we have to do is find out if the missing people are in the warehouse and calm down the outlaws there to make it safe to go outside right?"

Roy nodded and turned to Zezilia. "Now that you've heard what we'll be doing, are you sure you want to come Zezilia?"

Zezilia grinned at Roy, "Yea. I wouldn't miss this for the world! Seeing two alchemists work on a real state issued mission! This will be so cool!"

Roy laughed at her enthusiasm and dismissed the two from his office, only to call them both back in quickly.

"I thought you just dismissed us! What more could you want?" Ed whined, wanting to go back home.

Roy smirked. "I thought you might like to know that we are leaving first thing tomorrow morning. Now, Fullmetal, you are dismissed, again." Roy smiled before adressing Zezilia again. "You however are staying here. I'm taking you out to dinner again! I want you to get to taste the best food Central has to offer!"

Zezilia let out a smirk that could rival Roy's. "Ok. But what's the occasion?" She asked innocently.

Roy's face fell. _'Quick Roy! You didn't become a Colonel by teling the truth! Think of a good lie!' _"Um, early birthday present?" He said.

Zezilia laughed. "But Uncle Roy! My birthday's not even that close yet! It's like, six months away!"

Roy smiled. "I knew that. I was just joking. But really, I want you to see what Central really has to offer!"

Zezilia nodded and walked out of the office. Later that night, Roy and Zezilia sat talking about what would happen the next day, and what they would do when they got back.

**once again im really sorry for not updating sooner. im having a lot of problems with my family, and havent done my summer work for next school year, so im kinda really busy. i kno these are pathetic excuses but theyr the best i got, and theyr the truth too. hopefully i'll be more consistent in the updates and stuff... thanks again to all of you who take the time to review! once again, if you have any suggestions at all please contact me in whatever way gives you! )**


	14. Sorry

Sorry, but this is not an actual chapter. This is a desperate call for help. As much as I'd love to continue writing this story, I don't have the time I once had (and even that time was limited). I guess I've been forced to grow up a bit fast, so now I'm juggling a bunch of things as well as prepping myself for college and senior year in high school. Anyway, I'm not here to make excuses, I'm here to plead for help.

If ANYONE wishes to take up this story, you may. I think I'm just going to delete it or something like that, because I can't ever see myself working on it again. I may pound out short stories that are a page or so long, but I've got a real hard time with keeping track of things, ESPECIALLY a long term story.

So, once again, sorry for the EXTRODINARY lack of progress, and I hope SOME kind soul out there can pick up this story and really make it, uhm… _shine_.

All my thanks

bRokenangeL666


End file.
